


Moments in Between

by 1MissMolly



Series: Daddy, Uncle James and Lizzie. [2]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond - All Media Types
Genre: Family, Fluff, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-25
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-24 13:29:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8373949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1MissMolly/pseuds/1MissMolly
Summary: The moments in between the drama is what should make up our lives.Various moments in the lives of James, Q and Q's daughter Elizabeth Park. A continuation of Daddy and Uncle James.





	1. Telling the Truth

**Author's Note:**

> I was overwhelmed with all the positive feedback on the story Daddy and Uncle James. I have decided to add to the story of the three characters. These chapters are going to updated as they come to me. They are not in chronological order but are different moments in Lizzie's life. The first chapter is right after the late night phone call between James and Q when they confessed their love and decided to move in together.

Telling the Truth

Q couldn’t believe this was happening. It wasn’t bloody fair! After that late night phone call from Bond and the two finally admitting they cared for each other. Promising that they were going to have a life together. After they had sworn to each other they would raise Q’s daughter, Lizzie, together and be a family. It wasn’t bloody fair that James go get himself killed.

The door of the lift opened and Q struggled to walk down the hall to his front door. He had been at MI6 for the last seventy-two hours. As soon as the information of the ambush came through, Q had been franticly looking for 007. He hadn’t called home. He hadn’t spoken to his daughter. The only communication he had had was a quick text message to Lizzie’s nanny, Sophie, to please stay at the flat with the child and to wait until Q came home.

James had been in Moscow on the trail of a traitorous general who was selling weapons to terrorist. James had met the general and was in route to the cache of weapons when the car they were travelling in was attacked. A motorcyclist had pulled up beside the vehicle and shot the driver through the window. Then the door of a panel van beside the car opened and a machine gun fired directly into the passenger compartment. The car had exploded. Bond’s contact, Ivan, and the general were found dead at the scene. Bond was missing and presumed dead in the burnt out wreckage of the car.

Q spent the next three days searching CCTV videos and photographs. He checked immigrations and passport monitoring stations. He even asked Alec Trevelyan where James would go in Moscow to lay low. The blonde agent had to be restrained from going after his friend. Alec gave Q the name of several places, then hesitantly, gave the young man the name of several women James would think to go to for help. Q checked them all without any luck of finding 007. M declared Bond ‘KIA’ and for Q to stop looking.

Now, as he stumbled towards his flat, he tried to find the words he needed to tell his seven year old daughter that Uncle James wouldn’t be coming home. That the man she had befriended and who had saved her life was gone.

It tore at Q. Not only had he lost a lover and a friend, but his daughter would be devastated. She adored James. Her eyes sparkled whenever the two of them saw each other.

Q paused against the frame of the front door. He rested his head against the wood and closed his eyes. He had never felt this tired before in his entire life. He was only twenty-eight but the weight of the world seemed to be pushing him down.

The first tear he had cried for James slipped from his closed eyes. He knew he couldn’t indulge himself just yet to morn. He needed to be strong for his daughter. She needed him and he would be there for her. A father was more than just being genetically related to the child. It was more than tying bows in hair and fixing dinners. It was the hardest job in the world. Telling his daughter Uncle James was gone was going to be agonizing.

He unlocked the door and stepped into his flat. The smell of cooking filled the flat and the soft sound of Sophie’s music from the kitchen. Q let his messenger bag slip from his shoulder and gently set the computer bag down on the chair. He glanced around but Lizzie wasn’t anywhere near. Usually she would come rushing forward as soon as one of them came home.

Sophie came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her face was creased with worry lines.

“Mister Park, I’m so glad your home . . .” Sophie said softly as if Lizzie was napping in the other room.

“I’m sorry to abandon you here for so long.” Q said apologetically.

“That’s not the problem. He said I wasn’t to call you. That he didn’t need to bother you . . . or a doctor.” Sophie glanced over her shoulder.

Q knitted his brow together and reached out to grab the woman’s shoulders. His own exhaustion slowing down his comprehension.

“A doctor? . . . James? Is he here?”

Q started to rush past the woman. His heart pounded in his ears.

“He got here last night. Late. He said he had been in a car accident, but . . .”

Q didn’t hear the rest of Sophie’s comment. He rushed into their bedroom to see the wayward agent asleep in their bed.

James was sleeping in a sitting position. The left side of his face was darkly bruised. His right forearm and hand were bandaged in white gauze. From the way he was breathing, Q was pretty certain he had broken ribs. James’ expression was tight and tense even as his eyes were closed and he appeared asleep.

As angry and hurt as Q was to find out James had tricked them all. That he was still alive and back in England, what stilled Q in his tracks, was the appearance of his daughter standing beside the bed. She was dressed in her school uniform of dark forest green and tan. Her small arms were wrapped around the teddy bear James had given her a year before. Her eyes were fixed on James as she watched him breath in and out. Her dark lips were pressed into a pout as she studied the man sleeping.

“Lizzie, dear, we need to let James rest.” Q whispered softly. His anger sweeping away at the sight of his daughter.

Lizzie looked up at him. Her large hazel eyes were red as if she had been crying. Q reached out for his daughter to comfort her, but before he could touch her, Lizzie dashed out from under his hands and ran from the room.

Q watched his daughter as she ran into her room and slammed the door. The picture on the wall rattled from the force of the slamming door.

“She’s been standing there for almost ten minutes.” Q heard the deep voice come from the bed. Q turned to see James slowly open one of his blue eyes. The left one unable to open from the bruising.

“You bastard.” Q said harshly as he stepped closer to the bed. “I could kill you for making me worry about you like that.”

James held out his hand and Q took it. The younger man allowed the other to gently pull him down onto the bed. Q sat down close to James. His eyes visually raking over the injuries.

“It’s not as bad as it looks.” James said as his eye slipped close.

“Good because you look dead.” Q squeezed James’ hand. “What happened? Why didn’t you let me know you were alright?”

“It was a set up. An ambush. I didn’t know who they were after. The general, or Ivan, or . . .”

“Or you.”

James grunted in agreement. “It was well planned and executed. We didn’t have a chance. Ivan was sitting on the jump seat and the general and I were in the back seat. When the shooting started, Ivan was hit first. He fell into me and covered me. The general was unarmed and defenseless. I was trapped under Ivan and couldn’t get my gun out. By the time I was out from underneath Ivan, the shooting had stopped and the killers were gone. It could have been the competition or it could have been someone after me. I needed to stay low until I knew I was safe.”

“Did anyone come back to check whether or not you were dead?”

“They didn’t have too. They tossed in a hand grenade just before they drove off. I barely got out of the car in time.”

“James . . . oh God. We could’ve lost you.” Q reached up and cupped the unbruised side of James’ face.

“I’m fine. I’ll always come back.” He let his cocky smile come to him.

Lizzie’s door opened and the young child marched back into the bedroom. She was minus one bear but now held her tablet in her small hands. Q glanced at his daughter’s face. Suddenly, he was overwhelmed the sensation he was looking at the former M, Olivia Mansfield, again. Q felt the weight of a hard stare upon him. Unyielding and fixed. But instead of M’s bright blue eyes, he saw his daughter’s hazel green. The child’s plumb lips were drawn into a thin line and her tiny jaw was set as she glared at the two men.

“I want the truth.” Lizzie said sternly.

Surprised by the child’s demeanor, Q said. “Young lady . . . we always tell the truth.”

“Daddy, you told me to never lie.”

“Yes I did.”

“But you have been lying to me!” Lizzie said. Her little voice taking on a higher pitch in anger.

“What?! Never!” Q’s temper was beginning to fray.

“You told me that you and Uncle James work for Universal Exports. That you work on the computers and Uncle James is a sales person.”

Q suddenly felt his stomach drop. He never expected to have this conversation with his daughter. Well, not until she was much older. Old enough to understand the ramifications of the truth.

Before anyone could say anything, Lizzie cued up the tablet to an aerial map of London. More specifically the area around Vauxhall Bridge.

“You said this was your office building. You’ve taken me there. Both of you. I’ve played with Alec and Margo there. Everyone there knows you, Daddy. The map says it’s some place called MI6. I looked that up. It said it was the British Secret Intelligence Service! Spies! Are you a spy?!”

Q’s mouth went dry. Why did he have to have a computer savvy daughter?

“I’m not a spy, Lizzie.” He said softly.

“But you work with spies?” She kept pushing. “Is Uncle James a spy? Is that how he got hurt?”

“Sweetheart, it’s not like that. What we do there is for good. We are helping people.”

“Daddy, I’m seven years old. I’m not a child!”

James couldn’t help it, but laughed, then moaned as it caused him pain. Q’s temper began to flare again but not at his daughter.

“Yes you are seven and you are too young to talk to me that way.” Q said.

“How old do I have to be?”

James laughed harder this time. Gasping for breath afterwards as his ribs ached. Q glared at him.

“Serves you right.” He said to the agent. “Lizzie.” Q turned back to his daughter. “Yes, we deceived you about where we work, but it was for your own safety. You can’t tell anyone what we do for real.”

“So I have to lie.”

“It’s not like lying. It’s just not telling the truth.” James said.

Q rolled his eyes. _‘Now, Bond is teaching moral values to my daughter!’_ Q thought.

“Lizzie, it is for your own safety. Remember when Uncle James taught you to fight. To defend yourself.” The child nodded her head. “Well, just because you know how to hurt someone doesn’t mean you go out and hurt someone, correct?”

“Yes . . .”

“Okay, we don’t tell anyone what we really do for a living but we aren’t lying to hurt them. We are doing it to keep everyone safe.”

Lizzie stood there for moment trying to understand what her father and Uncle James had just said to her.

“Sooo . . . are you a spy?” Lizzie asked again.

“No, I am not. I work on computers and help James do his job. He’s . . . he is a spy.”

“Really!?” Lizzie’s face lit up. “Can you show me your gun?”

“NO!” Q shouted.

James smiled and leaned over to stage whisper to the little girl. “When you’re old enough, I’ll teach you how to shoot. Okay?”

“When?”

“Many years from now.” Q said. “But Lizzie. You can not tell anyone. Truthfully. Not even Mommy.”

Lizzie blinked her eyes several times. Then nodded her little head. Her dark curls bouncing. “Yes, Daddy. Did Uncle James get hurt while he was out spying?”

“It’s call ‘on a mission’ and yes he did. He was in a . . . car accident.” No reason to tell the exuberant child that the man she adored was being shot at. “From now on we will tell you everything.”

Q glanced over at James. Both men waited a moment then smiled.

“And there is something very important we need to tell you now. I need you to listen and not get overly excited. Uncle James needs to rest.”

“Yes, Daddy.” Lizzie looked earnestly up at the two men.

“Do you like Uncle James?”

“Yes, I love him.” She answered honestly.

“I do too. And he loves us.” The information made the young girl smile brighter. “He loves us so much that he wants to live with us. Full time.”

Lizzie’s eyes grew large. “Really!? You’ll be here all the time?!”

“Well, whenever I’m in London. Yes. I want to live here with you and your Daddy.” James said smiling as he squeezed Q’s hand.

Lizzie began to jump up and down and wave her hands in the air. “Hurray, hurray! Uncle James is staying, he’s staying!”

“Lizzie calm down. James needs to rest. So let’s let him sleep now and we will make plans later.” Q said.

Lizzie danced out of the room still shouting about Uncle James staying. Q went to stand up but James held onto him and pulled him back down on the bed. Q looked quizzical at the man but James simple smiled at him, and pulled him closer.

“You’re injured.” Q whispered before their lips touched.

“Not too injured to enjoy your presence.” James whispered back as he kissed the young man again.

“You get some rest. Sophie is making dinner and I’ll bring it in for you.”

“Do you think you could sleep in here tonight?”

“I think Lizzie will want to have a slumber party with you.”

“I’m not up to a slumber party, but I really want you closed to me tonight. I won’t be able to do much more than hold your hand, but . . .” James kissed Q again. The young man pulled back and stared into the icy blue eyes.

“Please don’t scare me like that again. I thought you were . . . gone. I was going to have to tell Lizzie that you weren’t coming back to us. I never want to tell her that.”

James brought his bandaged hand up and touched Q’s face.

“I will always return to you, Brandon. Believe me. I don’t want to be anywhere else in the world than here with my little family.”

Q leaned forward again and kissed the man’s face. Q stood up and smiled down on James.

“Truth?”

“Absolute truth.” James smiled back.


	2. Surveillance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lizzie goes out on a date. While Q and James deal with it differently.

Surveillance

The young man stood just inside the door looking very nervous as James Bond looked him up and down.

“You are Craig?” Bond’s voice was deep and growling.

“Yes, ah . . . Mister Bond?”

‘ _Well at least the little bastard knew to be polite’_ , Bond thought. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at the sixteen year old. He watched as the young man swallow dryly and a slight blush came to his pudgy round cheeks.

James thought of all the places he could hide a body as small as this kid was. It would easily fit into the boot of his Aston Martin or even a naval duffel bag. He cocked his head to the side slightly as he considered the different methods of snapping such a small thin neck.

“James, stop it.” Bond heard his husband’s voice coming up behind him. Q stepped around the blonde and held out his hand. “Good evening, Craig is it?”

The young man gladly took the offered hand of the friendlier faced male. He shook it vigorously.

“Yes. Nice to meet you, Mister Park.”

“Please call me Brandon, and this grumpy old man is James.” Q shoved James playfully in the shoulder. “Lizzie is very excited. She’ll be right down.”

“Thank you.” Craig said relieved.

“So where are you going on your date?” Q asked.

“Don’t tell him!”

The three men heard the female voice shout from the stairs. All three turned to see Lizzie Park, Q’s daughter, coming down the steps; skipping as she did.

“Don’t tell them or they will follow us.” Lizzie reached up and kissed Q’s cheek.

“No we won’t, will we James.” Q said glancing sideways at his husband.

“I’m going out with Alec tonight. Pub night.” James said still in a growling tone.

Lizzie stepped around her father and gave James a hug. “Don’t be such a big scary father. It’s not like it’s my first date ever.” She smiled at the man she had known most of her life as Uncle James but was now her step-father, Papa.

“It’s the first date you’ve ever been on without one of us there.” James said. He reached for Lizzie and pulled her close to chest then leaned in close to whisper into her ear. “You still have the pepper spray in you handbag?”

Lizzie laughed and hugged him back. “Of course, but I won’t need it, silly.”

James’ eyes glared at the young man. Craig seemed to pale and take a step back.

There was a knock on the front door, then it opened before anyone reached for it. Alec Trevelyan stepped into the foyer of the townhouse and smiled at the four people standing there.

“James, ‘you ready?” Alec asked then glanced down at the young man. “Oh, are you Lizzie’s boyfriend? Garry?”

“Craig, Uncle Alec, and not boyfriend, just a friend.” Lizzie said as she rushed over to give the large Russian a hug.

Craig looked back and forth between the two blonde men. They were both taller than him and looked like they could snap him in two if they felt like it. Lizzie seemed totally eased with the men who looked more dangerous than the lions he had seen in the zoo. At least Lizzie’s other father, the dark haired man, seemed friendly and non-threating.

“Are you ready to go?” Lizzie asked Craig. He nodded without speaking. Still terrorized by Lizzie’s two uncles.

“You two go first while I hold these two back.” Q said, winking at his daughter.

James and Alec looked over at Q like they were going to object, but Q nodded to his husband.

“No, you can wait until the two of them are down the road and on the tube before you try to follow them.” Q said reading his husband’s mind.

“We are heading over to the pub to watch the match.” James said trying to sound innocent.

“That and a game of darts.” Alec added.

“Then waiting ten minutes won’t hurt.” Q said as he pushed his daughter out the door with the boy.

Q closed the door and blocked it with his body as he watched James slip on his wind cheater.

“Q, what are you doing? Don’t you trust me?” James asked feigning a hurt pride.

“I trust you with my very life, and I know you are over protective of our daughter.”

Every time Q used the term ‘our daughter’, it hit James hard in the chest. He held up on his rush for the door and stared at the man who had given him a life with a family and a home. A warm soft feeling filled his smile at Q.

“Q, I promise. I trust Lizzie. I won’t follow her.” James said as he brought his hand up and cupped Q’s cheek.

“She will kill you if she catches you.”

“We won’t be there to be caught.”

The two men kissed one another. A chaste yet affirming kiss. Q’s arms slipped around James’ shoulders and the two just stood embraced in each other’s arms.

“Enough of that.” Alec said as he pushed at James’ shoulder. “The match has already started.”

James and Q separated and Q stepped away from the door.

“Have fun. I’ll probably be asleep before you get home.”

“No you won’t. You’ll be awake, waiting for Lizzie to get home.” James gave Q another quick kiss before he opened the front door and stepped out onto the pavement.

The two MI6 trained operatives started walking down the street. Glancing occasionally at the other people out at this time of night.

“You really not going to follow your daughter?” Alec asked, knowing James and he had planned on discreetly monitoring Lizzie’s date with the young man.

“I promised Q. I’m not going to follow Lizzie . . . but I didn’t promise to not follow the boy. Let’s go.”

The two men took off quickly. Walking fast to the Underground station. They saw Lizzie and Craig standing on the platform waiting for the next train when they arrived. They boarded the car before the one Lizzie and the boy entered. Through the windows, James and Alec watched the two.

Craig had taken Lizzie to a small Italian café that had tables out on the pavement. The two young people sat at the small table just inside and ate a slice of pizza. James and Alec stood across the street, hidden behind racks of second hand clothes. They watched as Craig said something and Lizzie started to laugh. Her dark curls shaking as her face winkled up in big smile.

“She looks like she’s having fun.” Alec said softly beside his best friend.

“She’s too trusting, just like her father.” James said as he studied the body language of the two young people. “Look, he’s touching her.”

“He’s holding her hand, James. Nothing deviant about that.”

James wanted to argue, but he knew he was being over protective. He just couldn’t help himself. He loved his daughter so much. The memory of a little six year old girl coming up and speaking to him after he had returned bloodied from a mission flooded back to him. Most adults would have been terrified. He would have thought a child would have run away screaming in fear, but not Lizzie Park. She asked him if he need a kiss to make it better.

Lizzie had been that one person who had turned James Bond’s world on its side. He was already attracted to Q. He had been planning a seduction of the Quartermaster from the first moment he had met him, but when James had met Q’s daughter, things had changed. James’ values had changed. He wanted more with the young man than an occasional hook-up. He wanted more than physical release of tension. He wanted a family. And Q was more than happy to bless James with his.

Lizzie was his daughter. Something he never thought he would ever say. ‘ _My daughter’_ and it was real. His life with Q and Lizzie had made him change into more than the blunt instrument MI6 portrayed him as. And if being over-protective of his step-daughter was part of the situation, then he would more than willing to embrace it.

“I don’t trust him.” James said.

“You don’t trust anyone with your daughter.” Alec teased.

James looked over at his friend. “Do you blame me? She’s been kidnapped once. I never want to go through that again.”

“Well, I don’t think that hormonal teenage boy is going to whisk her away.”

“No, teenage hormonal boys are likely to do other things.” James said as he watched Lizzie and Craig step out of the restaurant hand in hand.

Alec and James followed the two of them to an ice skating rink. It was crowded and the tinny music was loud. Lizzie and Craig stood in line at the rental desk and picked out their skates. People kept moving between them and blocking James’ view of his daughter. James watched as Lizzie checked her face in the large mirror behind the counter. Quickly dragging her fingers through her dark curly hair, just like her father’s.

Craig brought both pair of skates over to a bench for the two of them to put on. Lizzie paused for a moment then said something to Craig. James watched as the young man pointed off in the opposite direction. Lizzie nodded her head and started walking in that direction.

“You keep an eye on the kid, I’ll follow her.” James said. Alec nodded.

Alec waited until James was walking towards the hallway where Lizzie had disappeared down, when he went to the concessions stand and bought a bag of popcorn. He was leaning against the wall, slowly eating the salty kernels while watching Craig lace up his ice skates.

“Want to share?”

Alec nearly threw the bag of popcorn. Lizzie Park was standing five feet away from him. Her arms crossed over her chest and a pout was on her face.

“Oh, fuck.”

“Well, at least you’re cursing in English now instead of Russian.” Lizzie said as she stepped closer and took a piece of popcorn and popped it into her mouth. “Where is he?”

“Who?”

“Uncle Alec . . .” She drew out his name the same way Q did just before he tore into the agent for doing something that made the Quartermaster furious.

“Lizzie, we were just . . .” Alec stumbled over his words.

“Some spy you are. Caving at the first hint of an interrogation. Where is my papa?” She ate some more popcorn.

Alec stunned that the young woman was able to slip up on him. He handed her the popcorn sack.

“He’s around here somewhere. How did you do that?”

“Sneak up on you? I’ve been living with James for eight years. You don’t think I’ve pick up a few things.” Lizzie glared at the Russian.

James came out of the hallway, not having found Lizzie. He glanced around the room and saw Craig still sitting waiting for his daughter. He glanced over to Alec and was stunned to see Lizzie standing there sharing the man’s popcorn.

“Oh shit,” he whispered to himself. Quickly he walked across the crowded lobby and towards his friend and daughter. “Lizzie.”

“You said you weren’t going to follow us. I feel like using that pepper spray on you!”

“I didn’t follow you.” James started to alibi himself.

“YOU DIDN’T! Then what are you doing here? There isn’t a match being played here!”

“Lizzie calm down.” James said glancing around at the people beginning to stare at them. “We just happened to come in here too and saw you two.”

“Papa, I’m not gullible anymore. Remember when I figured out you were lying to me about what you did for living. I know you’re lying again. Now stop it! I appreciate you’re are concerned about me, and you have good reason after all I was kidnapped once, but really?! Does Craig look like a criminal mastermind?!”

“No, he looks like a teenage boy and I remember what I was doing at his age.”

“Getting thrown out of Eton for seducing one of the maids?” Lizzie glared back at him.

Bond looked sheepishly at Trevelyan. His step-daughter was correct.

“Lizzie, I love you. And I spent years protecting those I love. I am sorry if you don’t understand but I will always feel the need to protect you.”

Lizzie stared into crystal blue eyes. She could see the ultimate sincerity in them.

“I love you too, Uncle James.” Her eyes softened. “Papa . . . but I’m not seven anymore. I’m just having fun with a friend and no one is going to swoop in here at kidnap me. No spies or drug lords or criminal gangs. Just two friends ice skating. Please trust me.”

James stood staring into his daughter’s face. She reminded him so much of Q but yet she was still her own person. Strong resilient and beautiful. She possessed Q’s intelligence but his own fortitude. James had to admit, Lizzie was no longer the little girl he took to the park to see the swans. She had grown into a young woman who would take care of herself regardless of what James wanted.

“We will leave you to enjoy the rest of your date.” James said softly.

“Thank you. I won’t be late tonight. Please wait up for me.” Lizzie smiled at the man. Then she stepped forward and kissed the older man. He wrapped his arms around the young woman and held her tight to himself. When he dropped his arms, and she stepped back.

“Have fun darling.” James said.

James and Alex watched as Lizzie went to join Craig. The young man smiled as she walked up to him. Alec came over and stood next James. He nudged his best friend’s shoulder with his own.

“She’s good at surveillance. Every thought of her joining SIS?”

“I would lock her away if she ever applied to MI6.” James said with a smug smile. Pride beaming through his expression.

“Damn good thing Q didn’t see that. Being outwitted by a sixteen year old girl, even if she is your daughter. It would be embarrassing.” Alec teased.

“Shut up, Alec.” James watched as his step-daughter and her date carefully walked out onto the skating arena.

~Q~

Q watched the CCTV feed from the skating arena. As soon as James and Alec had left the house, Q started to hack into the traffic cameras and the CCTV network. He had followed the couple onto the Underground then to the café. Q watched as they entered the skating rink, then he quickly accessed the feed from there. It didn’t surprise him when he caught a glimpse of James following their daughter down the hallway after she separated from Craig. What did surprise him was when she snuck up on Alec and surprised the two highly trained MI6 operatives.

He smiled as he watched his husband turn and walk away from their daughter and her date. Q closed the laptop, deciding he didn’t need to worry any longer. Not only did it reassure him about Lizzie and Craig, but he also had ammunition he could use against James.

 


	3. The House in Camden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James has two important questions for Lizzie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please remember these chapters are not in any order. Lizzie is a little girl again in this chapter and it just two years after James had moved in with Q.

The House in Camden

Lizzie sat in the passenger seat of James’ Aston Martin. It was a rare treat, because Q always insisted she sit in the cramp but safer backseat. James drove down the residential streets just off Hampstead Heath. The fall air had a crisp coolness to it. The trees lining the street were already in their full fall colors. Oranges and yellows with deep reds. It hadn’t rained for several days and the sky was a remarkable deep blue. The perfect contrast to the blazing colors of the trees.

He pulled the car over in front of a red brick Edwardian townhouse. Lizzie glanced over at the three story building and tried to remember if she had ever seen it before. She thought it looked familiar but she couldn’t remember.

James leaned over and unsnapped her seatbelt. “I want to show you something and get your opinion.” He said.

James got out of the car and walked around to open Lizzie’s door. He helped the nine year old out and took her hand. He led her through the small gate and up the walk to the black front door.

James Bond had been living with his Quartermaster, Brandon Park, and Q’s daughter, Lizzie Park, for two years now. He had moved into Q’s flat several months after Lizzie had come to live with her father. James was smitten with the little girl the first time he met her. She was as captivating as her father was.

After James had rescued her from a kidnapper, his relationship with Q had become more romantic and by New Year’s Eve just a few weeks later, they had become lovers. James never realized how much was missing in his life until he had Q and Lizzie was there with him. He had a lover and a family. He had a home.

And now, he hoped for more.

He unlocked the front door of the townhouse and opened it for Lizzie. The two walked into the large empty space. Their footsteps echoing on the hardwood floors. The front hall was airy and opened to the first floor. The center hallway had a large staircase leading upwards, curving to the left two-thirds up its incline. The railing was dark polished wood but the balusters were painted off white. A large brass and crystal chandelier hung down over the space. Doors led off to the right and left of the center hall and another led to the back of the house. The rooms on either side of the front hall were large, with a fireplace in each. The one to the left appeared to have numerous bookshelves and a set of pocket doors leading into another room. The room to the right had another large crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

“Who lives here?” Lizzie asked.

“No one right now. Follow me.” James took Lizzie’s hand and the two walked up the stairs. The first floor was divided into three main rooms. A large bedroom in the front with a private ensuite, and two smaller bedrooms with a shared bathroom. The bedroom in the back of the house looked over a walled garden, with a patio and garage. There were mature trees in the garden and large flower beds.

“Is this a princess’ house?” Lizzie said as she looked at the garden. “I wish I had trees I could climb like those.”

“Would you like to live here and pretend to be a princess, Lizzie? Live here with your daddy and me?”

The child turned to look up at him with big eyes. Her little mouth formed a perfect ‘O’ before she ran forward and leapt up into James’ arms.

“REALLY!? YOU’D BUY THIS HOUSE FOR US?!”

“If you want to live here, yes. I’ve been looking for a real home for us. Some place for your daddy to have a home office and you a back garden to play in.”

“I’ve never lived in a real house before! I never lived anywhere as big as this!” Lizzie hugged James tightly around the neck. “Can we see the back garden?”

“Come on,” James said as he carried the little girl down the steps and to the back room of the house. “It won’t seem so big once we get all the furniture in it.”

Large French doors led out to the brick patio. James let Lizzie slip down from his arms and onto the ground. As soon as her feet touched the ground, Lizzie was off, running through the grass and fallen leaves. She leapt up to tried to grab the lowest branch on the trees.

James smiled as he watched the child enjoy herself. She laughed and played for several minutes before she came running up to his arms.

“Has Daddy seen it yet?” She asked.

“No, I wanted to bring you here first.” James sat down on the step and pulled Lizzie into his lap. “I need to ask you an important question.”

Lizzie pulled her eyebrows together showing she was concentrating on what Uncle James was going to ask her.

“Lizzie, darling, you know I love you.”

“Yes . . .”

“And I love your daddy, too.”

Lizzie giggled.

“Yes, I know.”

“The two of you are very important to me. And I been alone for a very long time and I . . . never knew anyone who wanted to spend the rest of my life with, then I met your father . . . and then you. And I really want to be more than just your friend and honorary uncle. I want to be your other father. Your papa.” Lizzie started to pout as her eyes began to glisten with tears. “Lizzie, I want to ask your daddy to marry me. I want us to be a family together. Is that alright with you?”

“No.”

James froze at the answer. He had told himself repeatedly that Lizzie would be over-joyed at the idea of them being a real family together. He shook his head. Believing he misunderstood her or she had misunderstood him, he asked again.

“Lizzie, I want to marry your father.”

“No, Uncle James! No!” Lizzie threw herself into his chest and wrapped her little arms around his shoulders. “You can’t marry daddy!”

Confused by the child’s reaction, James asked her. “Why not?”

“Please, Uncle James, nooo.” The child whined.

The sudden sharp pain pierced through James’ chest. Had he so totally over-estimated the child’s acceptance of him? Had he misjudged his place in their lives? Or was this still her foolish crush she had had on him since they first met?

“You know I’m too old to marry you and you would be much happier with a younger man.”

“I know that.”

James was now totally bewildered. “Lizzie, why do you not want me to marry your father?”

“Because I don’t want you to leave!” Lizzie wept into his shirt.

“I don’t understand, Lizzie. Why would I leave if I married your father?”

“That’s what happens. You get married then you start to fight and then finally one of you leaves the other one. I don’t want you or Daddy to leave. I love you both and I want you to stay.”

The pieces fell into place.

“Because that is what happened between your mommy and daddy? Lizzie, that’s not going to happen between me and Q. We aren’t going to leave each other. And even if by some bizarre chance we did, neither one of us will leave you. You are too special.” James twisted the little girl so he could look closely into her eyes. “I love your father. I love both of you. The two of you are the most important people in my life. I would never do anything to make either one of you sad. And regardless of what other people do, we will always be together. And if you like this house, we will be here, together as a family.”

Lizzie snuffled slightly and rubbed the back of her hand across her red eyes.

“You promise?” She asked with a broken voice.

“I promise, I will always love your father and you. I promise I will always try my hardest to make both of you happy and keep you safe. Please, Lizzie, may I marry your father?”

“Yes.” Lizzie laid her head on James chest and looked back out into the yard. “But I you have to ask him just right.”

“Oh, and do you think you know how to ask him just right?” James smiled softly.

“Yes.” She twisted around again and looked up at him. “Don’t bring him flowers or candy. He will think that is silly. I think you should take him out to a posh restaurant. You know, like that place you took him for his birthday.”

James thought back to the three star Michelin restaurant it took Bond six months in advance to get reservations at. He nodded his head. He would find a very good restaurant but he was not going to wait six months.

“And the ring shouldn’t be too sparkly. He doesn’t like things that are too fancy or showy.” She started to count items off on her little fingers.

“Tell him that you want me too. That will make him happy. And tell him I need to be in the wedding . . . a best daughter or something like that. I need a big pink dress with a poufy skirt.”

“Absolutely.” James nodded his head again.

“And the wedding can be here in the garden. Eve can be the flower girl and Uncle Alec can be your best man!”

“Don’t you think we should wait until your father says yes, before we start planning the wedding?”

“Oh, don’t worry. He told me, he wanted to marry you too, but he didn’t think you wanted to. He said you had relationship fo’bby. Is it infectious?”

“Fo’bby?” James raised an eyebrow.

“Something like that. Maybe fo’bat?”

“Relationship phobia?” James slipped the phrase together remembering a late night conversation with Q after too many alcoholic drinks. “I believe I am cured of the disease.” James smiled and leaned forward to kiss Lizzie’s forehead. “You and your father were the antidote.”

“Good.”

“Q wanted to ask me to marry him?” He asked while he pulled her close and rested his chin on top of her dark curls.

“Yes, but he gets all nervous when he tries to figure out how to ask you to your face.”

“Well, then, I guess it will be up to me to follow this mission to the end.”

Lizzie burrowed deeper into his lap. “Just as long as we are together in the end, Uncle James.” She stilled in his lap then glanced up at him. “Can I call you Papa?”

“I would be very happy if you did.” James said feeling a warmth move through him.

“I love you, Papa.”

“I love you too, Lizzie.”


	4. Intervention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q gets a phone call from Lizzie. Q comes to the rescue of his ex-wife.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I may have let the last chapter get too fluffy. This chapter is more emotional and angst. Written from a prompt from Lady Chef. I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Warning: domestic violence off stage.

Intervention

“Daddy, I’m scared. Please come get me.”

Q could hear his daughter’s voice over the phone line. She sounded so small and frighten.

“Lizzie, where are you?” Q tried to remain calm as he heard his daughter start to cry.

As soon as he said the words, James’ eyes flashed up at Q. The hard flint stare of a killer. His face was emotionless but hiding beneath it was the rage.

“They’re yelling, Daddy. Something got broken. I heard it crash. I’m scared. Please come get me.”

James grabbed the phone from Q’s hand.

“Lizzie, this is James. Where are you?”

“In my bedroom. Mommy is yelling at Bryan.”

“Lizzie, we are on our way. I’ll be there in just a few minutes. Get under your bed and stay there till I get you. Okay, sweetheart.”

“Yes, Papa James. You’ll hurry?” James could hear the fear in the girl’s voice.

“I’m already on my way. Now you keep talking to your daddy as we come and get you.” James handed the phone back to Q.

Q started talking to his daughter as calmly as he could as he watch James go to the bookshelf and retrieve the hidden gun behind the books. Q tried to not sound anxious as he watched his spouse check the weapon and pull the action back to load it.

Q and James had finally married the week before. Katherine had agreed to take Lizzie for the week so James and Q could have a private honeymoon in their Camden house. Everything had been arranged and Lizzie was looking forward to spending some time with her mother after the excitement of the wedding.

James drove like a madman across town. Katherine had moved into a small flat in Mile End. It was not in the best part of town and the street the flat block was on was dingy. James pulled the Aston up to the kerb and barely had the engine off before he was rushing up the steps to the front door. Q was immediately on his heels, still speaking into the phone talking to his frightened daughter.

James pounded on the door to Katherine Park’s flat.

“Lizzie, that’s us at the door. We will be right in.” Q said. “I’m going to hang up now. You will see me in just a minute.”

No one answered the door. James pounded again then stepped back, readying himself to kick it in. Q grabbed his arm when he heard his ex-wife shout behind the closed door.

“Go away, Bryan! Go away or I’ll call the cops!”

“Katherine it’s me, Brandon.” Q called through the door.

James and Q could hear the deadbolt turn and the door open only a few inches. The safety chain was still on the door. Katherine glanced around the corner only showing a side of her face. He could see she was shaking and looked frighten.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“Open this bloody door or I’ll kick it in!” James growled. Katherine’s eyes grew wider.

“Lizzie called us. She was frightened. Please, Katherine, let us in.” Q pleaded.

Katherine glanced back and forth between the two men, then slowly closed the door. James and Q could hear the safety chain slide and then the door open again. James pushed his way in, past the woman and into the back of the flat. He knocked a closed door.

“Lizzie, it’s James.”

Q could hear his daughter call out and then door open. James went into the bedroom, closing the door behind him. Q turned to ex-wife, ready to yell at her about scaring their child when he stopped. The words dissolved in his mouth when he saw her bruised face.

“What happened?” Q asked as anger burned brightly through him. If his daughter came out of her bedroom with a single mark on her, he would make it his personal pleasure to make sure there wasn’t enough of Katherine’s new boyfriend, Bryan, left to even identify by DNA.

“Nothing. It was my fault.” Katherine said quickly, turning away from Q’s glare.

James came out of the bedroom with Lizzie wrapped in his arms. She was dressed in her nightgown and her Russian bear was grasped in her little hand. James’ expression had softened as he walked up to his husband.

“Is she alright?” Q asked quickly glancing over his daughter.

“She’s just scared. Not hurt.” James said softly, still holding the child. “Let’s go.”

Q glanced up into James’ face then let his eyes move sideways to draw James’ attention to Katherine and her injuries. Her right eye was blacken and she had a distinctive bruise on her right cheek. Her lower lip was split and by the way she was holding her right arm close to her body, she probably had injured ribs.

“Please take Lizzie home. I’ll follow later.” Q said softly.

“No.” James was deadly still.

“James, I can’t leave her like this.”

James glanced back at Q then over to Katherine.

“Don’t be long. If he comes back . . . don’t let him in and call the police.” James said and leaned over for Q to kiss Lizzie’s head.

“I’ll text you.”

“No you will call me when you leave and when you get into the taxi. Or else!”

Q kissed James’ cheek too, then nodded. He leaned in close.

“Don’t worry, I have my Taser.” Q whispered.

James glared at the woman one more time, then stepped out of the flat, carrying Lizzie. Q closed the door and reset the safety chain and locked the deadbolt.

“I don’t like him.” Katherine said bittterly.

“Well, you’re not one of his favorite people either.” Q turned back to look his ex-wife in the face. “How long has Bryan been hitting you?”

“It’s not what you think . . .” Katherine started.

“I’m thinking you have let him get away with this before and now you blame yourself every time he loses control.”

“Things haven’t been easy on him. He lost his job again. And . . . and . . . I’m sure your boyfriend isn’t the most stable of individuals either.”

“He’s my husband, not my boyfriend. And when he gets angry at me, he never has lifted a finger to hurt me and he has never scared Lizzie. Did Bryan hit Lizzie?”

“No.” Katherine answered sharply.

“Ever?”

“No.” This time the answer came slower and Q was now wondering if he needed to have a conversation with Lizzie where James couldn’t hear.

“Alright, what happened?” Q tried to speak softer although all he wanted to do was yell.

Katherine stared at her ex-husband and chewed at her lower lip. The blood began to seep from the injury. Q slowly reached up and gently wiped the bead away, then cupped her cheek. The simple act of kindness seemed to overwhelm the woman. Katherine burst into tears and wrapped her arms around Q’s neck. She stepped forward and rested her head on his shoulder and buried her face into his neck. She openly wept and he gently hugged her. Softly patting her back and rocking slightly to calm the distraught woman down.

“Hush, it’s safe now. We won’t let him hurt you again.” Q whispered into her hair. “It’s over.”

He could feel her shutter with each breath. A new sob as her body final surrendered to fear.

“Why did we fail?” she asked as her face was hidden in his neck.

Taken back by the question, Q remained silent. He wasn’t sure if she even wanted an answer.

“We were in love. How did it all go so wrong?” Katherine finally pulled back and looked at her ex-husband.

Q could see the doubt and fear in her eyes. She didn’t need to hear it was her infidelity that cost her their marriage. He leaned up onto his toes and kissed her forehead. Carefully he guided her to the couch and helped her sit down.

“Katherine . . . Katy, we were too young. We wanted . . . needed different things.” Q said as soothingly as he could.

“You were gay then too?” she asked.

“I believe I was always bi-sexual. But that wasn’t the reason . . . well not the only reasons, Katy. You weren’t happy. Neither was I. You wanted more from me and I wanted things you couldn’t give me. Honestly, we probably should never have married in the first place. But at least we have Elizabeth. She is our one bright shining gift.”

Katherine smiled weakly and wiped her eyes with her hands. “Yes. She is the very best of both of us.” Katherine looked up a Q. “Do you really love him?”

“Who, James? Absolutely. And he loves Lizzie and me. He would do anything for us.”

“Why can’t I find someone like that?” She leaned back away from Q and glanced down and to the side. “I hated you the day the two of you got married. I hated the fact that you found someone else to love. You were supposed to languish for me. You were supposed to beg me to come back to you. But you didn’t . . .”

“Katherine, you had to know that wasn’t going too happened. Not after Mark . . . not after what happened.”

Q could see the woman’s face turn redder. She turned and glared at him. “That was as much your fault as mine.”

“And am I to blame for Bryan hitting you, too?” Q asked accusingly. Katherine blanched and Q felt bad for having verbally hurt her. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”

“No, I deserved it.” She said looking down.

“You don’t deserved to be hit and you don’t deserve to be humiliated by me. I’m sorry. But you do need to recognize this can’t go on. You must report him to the police.” Q said as he took her hands into his.

“No, I can’t. He’ll leave me then.”

“Good. Because if he is ever around Lizzie again, I’m sure James will kill him. And I’m not being figuratively. You must protect yourself and your daughter.” Q said firmly. “He must be reported and arrested. This must stop here.”

“But he didn’t mean it, Brandon. He didn’t mean to hurt me.”

“Katherine have you seen yourself? You’re lip is bleeding. Your face is bruised. I’m sure you have bruises elsewhere.” Q was getting frustrated. “I will make it very simple for you to understand. It will be Bryan or Lizzie.”

“What do you mean?”

“The custody order has never been changed from the last time. I’ve only let you have free access under my own decision. Either you file charges against Bryan or I will limit your visitation to Lizzie to only supervised and only every four weeks.”

“You can’t!” Katherine shouted.

“I will for your own good.”

“But . . . I . . . I don’t know what to do, where to go . . .” She started to cry again. Q pulled her close again as she let her emotions overwhelm her again.

When she finally cried herself out, Q held her by her shoulders at arms’ length.

“First thing first. Go pack a bag. I’m taking you to hospital. The doctors were notify the police and you will file a complaint. Then I will take you to a shelter where you will be safe until the police arrest him. Then after that, we get your life back together. Maybe you can go back to teaching . . . or gymnastics. Katherine, you are stronger than you think. You can do this.”

“And Lizzie?”

“As long as she wants to see you and I believe it is safe, you will see your daughter but . . .”

Katherine shook her head. “I understand. Give me a moment. I don’t need much.”

Katherine stood and walked to the back bedrooms. Q watched her as she disappeared behind a closed door. He felt the vibration in his pocket of his phone and quickly removed it. James had texted him.

_5-11-16 2145 We are home. Where are you?_

Q smiled.

**5-11-16 2146 I’m taking her to a shelter. Won’t be long.**

_5-11-16 2148 Better not be. If you are not home shortly, I’m calling out the cavalry._

**5-11-16 2152 Maybe longer than you like. Hospital, police then shelter. At least two hours, maybe more.**

_5-11-16 2153 Unacceptable. Calling Alec, Eve, 009 and 001 now._

Q smiled at the text message. He could feel the emotions lifting and a warmth fill him inside.

**5-11-16 2155 We are safe. No need to call in an extraction team. Nothing needs blowing up. Kiss Lizzie good night for me.**

_5-11-16 2159 You can kiss her good night yourself. She refuses to go to bed without you here. Insists on sleeping in our bed. Alec and Eve are still willing to shoot someone if you won’t let them blow them up._

**5-11-16 2159 Give her hot cocoa and read her a bedtime story. Nothing to do with you and Alec. I’ll call you from the hospital.**

_5-11-16 2201 Call from the taxi, then the hospital, then from the taxi on the way to the shelter and on the way home. If I don’t hear from you, I will call Alec and Eve._

Q was smiling at his phone when Katherine came out of the bedroom carrying a small overnight bag. He glanced up and she saw his face.

“Texting your true love?” she asked.

“Yes.” Q answered without hesitation. He could see the hurt return to her face. “Don’t worry, Katherine. I believe there is someone out there for you too. Someone who will care for you as much as James cares for me.”

Katherine blinked several times.

“Do you honestly believe so?”

“Yes. Everyone should have a chance at happiness.” Q said as he reached for her suitcase.

As Katherine went to secure the flat before they left, Q texted one more message to James.

**5-11-16 2214 Thank you for loving me.**

The return message came quickly.

_5-11-16 2216 Always my pleasure._


	5. Christmas Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The MI6 annual Christmas party.

Christmas Party

007 stood by the railing as he stared down at the other party goers. He took a sip of his scotch as he leaned against the white pillar. Guests milled around him as he looked down at the floor below him. The sharp interruption to the general hum of the various conversations was made by the occasional outburst of laughter. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Everyone but 007.

M had demand he attend the annual MI6 Christmas party. Various members of the executive branch and Q branch mingled with the operatives, field agents and support services. It amazed him how so many people involved with keeping secrets could be in one room sharing drinks. It seemed like the perfect recipe for disaster.

The crystal chandeliers sparkled with bright white light and lit the room. The members of MI6 wondered around the beautifully laid out tables of drinks and canapés. The men were dressed in dinner jackets and bow ties. The woman in their finest Christmas attire. It was all too boring for the operative and he took another sip of his drink. He would wait until he was certain M had seen him there, then he would make a dash for the door.

He glanced around once again, when he notice her. She was young, maybe her mid-twenties, he thought. She had long dark hair. Black or a very dark brown. It was wavy with soft loose curls that curved around her pale white shoulders. She wore a strapless emerald green dress that picked up the light and accentuated her cat-like movements.

He watched as she paused at the rail beside him and glanced over at the people below. She was apparently looking for someone. Her arms were thin and her finger were long. She had a round face with high cheekbones. And her emerald dress caught the green of her eyes.

“I don’t believe we’ve met.” 007 said leaning in closer to her.

She turned her head and stared up at him. The expression on her face remained the same. Pleasant and quizzical.

“No, I don’t believe we have.” She said. Her voice was like velvet. Smooth and refine.

“James.” He smiled smugly. “And you are?” Maybe the party was going to be more interesting than he previously thought.

“Elizabeth.” She smiled back.

“Are you here with someone?” He took a sip while his eyes moved slowly up and down the young woman’s body.

“Not really.”

He took a step closer to her, setting his tumbler down on the railing.

“Lucky me. Which department do you work in?”

Her smile broadened and she laughed slightly. It was a soft sound, almost musical.

“Now that would inappropriate for me to tell you. A room full of spies. How do I know you’re not some enemy agent sent here to gather information?”

He laughed this time. “I sincerely doubt an enemy agent could get through the security to even get in here but if you must know, you can trust me.”

Elizabeth cocked a thin sculptured eyebrow up and let the corner of her mouth curl.

“My father told me to never trust any man who says trust me.”

James slowly dragged the back of his hand up Elizabeth’s bare arm and to her shoulder. His eyes watching the trail of his fingers.

“I’m sure your father would make me the exception.” He leaned forward to bring his lips closer to her cheek.

“007!” The voice was sharp and quick.

James pulled back immediately with an exasperated sigh, and looked over as the Quartermaster walked up to him.

“Q, good evening.” James said as he stood up straight again. “May I introduce, Elizabeth . . . I’m sorry, I didn’t get your last name.”

She smiled up at the operative. “Don’t worry. You’ll never forget it soon.” Elizabeth turned and leaned over to kiss Q’s cheek. “Sorry I’m late.”

“It is alright, as long as you go and speak to Eve and Bill immediately. They have been asking for you.” Q said.

“On my way.” She turned and looked back up at James. “Will I be seeing you later?”

“I look forward to it.” James said with a smile. He leaned forward to kiss the young woman on the lips but she slipped back, away from him coyly.

Q cleared his throat as Elizabeth smiled and turned to leave. The two men watched as the young woman merged seamlessly into the crowd. James tried to follow her but she had disappeared.

“Interesting woman.” James said.

“Very.” Q commented.

James twisted and looked at the older man. Q was in his late forties or early fifties. His once dark hair now had streaks of silver running through it. It was obvious that Q was admiring Elizabeth but James understood that the Quartermaster was gay. He was surprised by the man’s appreciation of the young woman.

“Do you know who she is, Q?” James asked.

“Yes, I’ve known her all her life.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, she is my daughter, 007.” Q turned towards the younger man just in time to see the color fade slightly from James Willoughby’s face.

“Ah, Elizabeth is your . . . daughter. Then Sir James is her . . .”

“Step-father? Yes. I’m sure you would like to explain how you met our daughter to your predecessor.” Q smiled.

Just then, Sir James Bond and Alec Trevelyan stepped up to Q. James smiled brightly at his partner and Alec slapped Q lightly on the shoulder.

“Look who I found waylaying the drinks trolley.” Bond said.

“How else do you expect me to stand to be here for any length of time?” Alec teased.

“You just missed Lizzie. She’s over with Eve and Bill.” Q glanced over at 007. “James, you remember the new double ‘O’ . . .”

“Willoughby, yes. Just promoted if I remember correctly.” James said as he looked the man up and down. He had refused to acknowledge his number designation had been given to someone else after he retired from the field and moved over to the executive branch of MI6.

“Promoted a year ago, Sir James.”

Alec burst out of loud boisterous laugh. “Sir James. I’m never going to get used to that.”

“Something Mallory pushed for before he retired. Acknowledgment of service to king and country.” Q said with a certain amount of pride.

Bond looked somewhat uncomfortable. Shifting slightly on his cane.

“We don’t need to keep bring it up, Q. I don’t intend on using the tittle and it doesn’t make you a Dame.”

Q blushed suddenly and Alec laughed louder and said, “No, James, not Dame, Lady Bond.”

Q glared at the teasing man.

“Well, looks like the party is up here.” Elizabeth said as he walked up with Bill Tanner beside her.

“Lizzie, darling. Where have you been?” James Bond leaned over and kissed his daughter.

James Willoughby just became paler.

“M.” He nodded to Bill Tanner.

“007.” Tanner acknowledge him.

“I see Elizabeth knows everyone here but me.” Willoughby said.

“As she should. She’s been part of the MI6 family since she was a child.” Bill Tanner said. “We still think of her as one of our own.”

“Yes, I can see that, M.” James Willoughby said. “If you will excuse me.” The operative nodded slightly and started to walk away from the Quartermaster, the head of MI6, the Chief of Staff, (Bond) and the head of training, (Trevelyan).

He had made it to the stairwell, when a thin arm slipped in around his elbow. He glanced over to see Lizzie Park in step with him as he descended the stairs.

“Now how are you going to handle critical mission if you can’t even negotiate a Christmas party at St. Ermin’s?”

Willoughby glanced over at her.

“Are your fathers following us?”

“If they were, you would never know it.” She waved at someone in the distance.

“I think being shot at or being thrown out of a plane at twenty thousand feet might be safer than dating you.”

“It may be safer but will it be as much fun?”

“That I wouldn’t know.” He said as he paused. He glanced around quickly then turned to look at her. “Would you be interested in dating a double ‘O’?”

She took a step back and looked the man up and down, then smiled. “It didn’t harm my father. I think I might be willing to give it a go.”

“And if it doesn’t work out?”

“James, it’s just a date, not a rescue from hostile territory. It’s just for fun and I promise I’ll keep them from disposing of your body.”

He would have laughed if he wasn’t sure that James Bond and the Quartermaster were more than capable of hiding his dead body.

“How about lunch tomorrow? Claridges?” Willoughby offered.

Elizabeth stepped forward and wrapped her arms around James shoulders. She leaned up on her toes and kissed him. His hands moved around her thin waist. Her lips felt smooth and soft. Warm to the touch of his. They seemed to slip perfectly together.

She slipped back down on to her feet. “Tomorrow. I’ll meet you there.” She smiled and stepped back.

He watched as she walked back up the stairs. The light glistening off her emerald dress. He didn’t see Bond or Q watching him.

“Well?” Q asked.

“I never did like him.” James said as he took his husband’s hand.

“That’s because you hated anyone else being known as 007.” Q squeezed James’ hand.

“Not the only reason.”

“It’s really her decision not ours.”

“Well, at least he is family.”

“I’m not sure if that makes it better.” Q said as he watched Willoughby watching his daughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone would like to make a suggestion for chapters please do. And if anyone would like to write their own story using Lizzie, I would be very happy.


	6. Alec and the Wedding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec is having a hard time at James and Q's wedding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not as much fun as the last chapter but I hope you will enjoy it. Lizzie was the wedding and she is nine years old.

Alec and the Wedding

Alec sat at the wedding party table, leaning back heavily in the seat. He had given up the Champaign quickly and moved onto vodka. The music was playing loud enough to drown out the conversations around him, so he didn’t have to hear all the comments of . . . _don’t they look cute together_ . . . and _we all knew this was going to happen_ . . . and _it was meant to be_.

No, it wasn’t meant to be. James was meant to be his friend. The person who would always be by his side. Alec knew he wasn’t romantically in love with James Bond but he still loved the man. He was the brother that Alec chose for himself. He was the person Alec was to share all his secrets with. He was Alec’s soulmate.

Alec watched as James danced slowly with Q. The two of them in matching black dinner jackets and bow ties. Q’s hair still a wild nest of curls while James’ was perfectly coiffed. The two were a stunning pair. Bond who looked like sex personified and Q, who could slip into any high fashion photo shoot and be mistaken for a model. The courtship between the two seemed short to Alec but it had been over two years since Bond had moved into Q’s flat. The two of them had just moved into a townhouse in Camden, living a life that Alec would never have chosen for his best friend.

Alec watched his friend lean in and chastely kiss his new husband just as the music finished. He watched as the Quartermaster blushed as James whispered something to the younger man. Alec took another deep drink of his vodka and looked away. There was a growing hole in his body as he watched his friend be happy in his new life.

Alec’s eyes focused on a large hazel eyes watching him from across the room. The small round face and pale skin of Lizzie staring at him, while she was standing next to Bill Tanner and his family. Lizzie had a pout on her face. A sad expression he had never seen before.

Lizzie turned and said something to Tanner and the man smiled and nodded to her. Lizzie stepped away and walked across the dance floor, avoiding the dancers deftly. Her lavender taffeta dress swaying slightly as she dodged Eve being twirled by her date.

Alec’s eyes were fixed on her as she walked around the table and right up to him.

“You’re sad too?” She asked bluntly.

“No . . . no, sweetheart. There’s nothing to be sad about today.” He tried to laugh it off, but the child had read him like a book. He set his vodka down and opened his arms. A simple invitation that the young girl took and crawled up into his lap. “Soon you will be too big to sit in Uncle Alec’s lap.”

Lizzie laughed softly. “I’ll never be too big.”

He gave the child a hug.

“Why are you sad, sweetheart? Don’t you want James to be your new daddy?”

“I do! I really do! It’s just . . . it won’t be just me and Daddy anymore. He and Uncle James will want to be alone more often now and I won’t be included as much.” Lizzie rested her head on Alec’s shoulder.

Alec felt guilty. How was he going to convince her it was going to be okay when he felt the very same way?

“They’re going to include you, too.” He said trying to sound convincing. “You are what make them a family. Without you, they are just a pair. You are what makes them special. You’re the glue.”

“Really?” She asked looking up at him.

“Without you, it’s just them. Kinda like without James, it was just pair of you and daddy. All three of you makes a family.”

“Are you going to be part of the family too?” Lizzie asked.

Alec was confused for moment. “Lizzie, I’m just a friend. I’m not . . .”

“But Uncle James said you are his brother. He told me.”

Alec felt a grip around his heart. He nodded and smiled down at the young girl.

“It’s really not the same.” He said softly.

“But why not? I mean, you two are together a lot. He really looks forward to you coming over. And you are in his best stories.”

“His best stories?” Alec asked confused. What had his friend been telling this child?

“He tries to tell me fairy tales and he is really bad at it, but then he tells me stories about Sir James and Sir Alec who are knights out fighting dragons and wizards. I know he is talking about you and him out on missions but he tries to make it sound made up like Mother Goose. It is really funny. I really like the one where you stole the speed boat and chased the woman up the Thames.”

Alec felt everything shift slightly off kilter. Bond had been tell the nine year old about chasing a sniper through London in a stolen boat. He couldn’t help himself. He broke out in a deep rolling laughter. Lizzie wrapped her arms around the man’s neck tighter as his whole body shook.

“I tore my shoulder sliding down the side of the O2.”

“He said it was a white castle and the woman was an evil witch with a magical staff that shot out fireballs but I knew what he was talking about.”

Alec wrapped his arms around the child in his lap, giving her a quick hug.

“You know he talks about you all the time too.”

“He does?” Lizzie eyes got big. “What does he say?”

“He tells me about you in the park with the swans. And all the funny things you say. We were in Rio watching a warehouse full of drugs and he was telling how you had convinced them you were supposed to be at a school function at the Palace. They were trying to figure out where your class was meeting and when they turned around, you had slipped in with the Royal Guard and was marching in step with them through the gates. I laughed so hard I almost gave away our position.”

Lizzie and Alec were laughing together now. Alec was beginning to realize that although everything was changing, everything would still remain the same. James would be his friend. They would still have their adventures together and they would have more stories to tell Lizzie as she grew older. This wasn’t an end of an era but the beginning of a new experience.

“Well, looks like the two of you are having a good time.” James said as he stepped over to the wedding party’s table. Alec and Lizzie looked up the Q and James.

“We were talking about family.” Alec said.

“How we are one big family. All together.” Lizzie continued.

James and Q smiled back.

“Absolutely.” Eve said as she walked up to the four of them. “Very dysfunctional but family none the less.”

“Dysfunctional?” Lizzie said, scrounging up her face as she tried to understand the word. “No . . . no . . . we all have jobs.”

The adults laughed and Q leaned over the table and asked his daughter. “And what is your job, kitten?”

“Uncle Alec said I’m the glue. I hold us all together.”

“He is very right. You most definitely hold us together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be when Q meets Lizzie's teacher and James become a jealous. Thank you for your comments and suggestions.


	7. Parent's Evening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q meets one of Lizzie's teachers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was told that Parent/Teacher conferences and School Open House are called Parents' Evening in the UK. Archgirl818 had asked about a flirting teacher story and this is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it.

Parents' Evening

Q walked into the class room, being pulled along by Lizzie. It was the Parent’s Evening and Lizzie was excited to show her father what she had been doing at her new school. Q fell into step behind the twelve year old girl. She had walked him through the various classrooms of her school. The art room and the science lab. She opened the door and pulled Q into room to meet yet another teacher.

“Miss Hunter, this is my father.” Lizzie said excited. “Daddy, this is Miss Hunter.”

Q smiled at the small woman with the large soft brown eyes. She looked up into Q’s face, and blushed slightly.

“Oh, Mister Park, ah, it’s so nice to finally meet you.” Brook Hunter said. “You are just like Elizabeth described.”

“I hope not.” Q laughed softly and wrapped an arm around his daughter’s shoulder to give her a loving hug.

Brook’s eyes shifted between father and daughter.

“I have several of Elizabeth’s compositions over here.” She sighed then stepped over to a desk and opened a school folder. Inside were numerous sheets of paper with stories that Lizzie had written. “Your daughter has such a wonderful imagination. She has written several stories about her two knights and their various adventures. I really enjoyed the one where Sir James is trapped under the ground searching for the evil white rat through the tunnels.”

“White rat?” Q asked then looked down at his daughter. James and Silva in the Underground system. Q was going to have to have a conversation with his daughter later.

Brook Hunter stepped closer and picked up one of the stories and began to read it. She leaned in and brushed her shoulder against Q’s. She glanced up at him. A small coy smile on her bright pink lips.

“I always believe a gifted child has a gifted parent too.”

Q nodded his head and smiled. “I’m not sure about that.”

“Oh, I can tell you are special, Brandon. May I call you Brandon?” she asked. Q smiled again. Brook twisted so she was almost facing Q.

“The brave knight climbed down the ladder and into the depths of the cavern. The sound of dripping water and the smell of mildew hailed entry into the dank tunnels.” Brook continued to read Lizzie’s story. “She has a wonderful grasp of vocabulary for a twelve year old.”

Q fought to not roll his eyes. It was, word for word, one of the story’s James had told her. He looked down at his daughter who just shrugged her shoulders, looking up at her father.

His attention was suddenly drawn away from his daughter as the woman reached out and took his hand.

“The evil rat hissed as the knight fired his flaming arrows through the darkness at the creature.” Brook read dramatically. “The knight’s faithful elf guiding the brave hero through the labyrinth.”

“I’m familiar with the story, Miss Hunter.” Q said. He wasn’t sure if he was going to tell the woman that the story was not of his daughter’s imagination or punch James for call him a faithful elf.

“Oh, please call me Brook.” She squeezed Q’s hand.

Lizzie’s eyes got large as she watched the teacher fawn over her father.

“Brook? Yes, alright . . . yes, I remember the story well.”

“Aren’t you so proud of her? A remarkable child.” Brook stepped closer to Q.

Invading his personal space as she leaned against his body to read more of the story. Q tried to back up but bounced into his daughter, who was now glaring up at the two adults.

“Yes, we are very proud of her.” Q said stumbling over the words.

Brook Hunter looked up into Q’s flustered face. She smiled brightly.

“Brandon, it is nothing to be embarrassed by. I mean it is obvious that she didn’t fall far from the tree. I can tell you are remarkable too. Just as special.”

Suddenly, Lizzie took off. She went running out of the room. Q turned to see her daughter flee.

“Lizzie?” Q called out. He was going to follow her, but Brook held tight to hand and prevented Q from leaving.

“It is alright. I’m sure she is going to go find one of her little friends. She made quite a few since she moved her.”

Q turned back to see the woman staring hopefully up at him. Brook blinked her eyes, her lashes fluttering slightly.

“Lizzie told me you and her mother are divorced.”

“That’s true.”

“I think it is important for a young girl to have a woman to turn to as they enter their teenage years. Don’t you agree?”

Q shifted trying to take a step back. Brook moved with him keeping the distance between them slight.

“Yes, I can see where that would be . . . beneficial for certain . . . things.”

“I feel my girls are like my own children. I love each and every one of them. But Elizabeth is special. She has a unique quality I would like to nurture.”

“Oh? Well, thank you. I’m sure we would like to know that her teachers take special care of her.” Q said.

“We?” Brook asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, we. Brandon and myself.” James voice was deep and strong. He wasn’t loud but it carried in the classroom.

Q jumped back, but Brook still had his hand. She looked over at the blonde, confused by the man’s presence. Lizzie stood beside James. Her small hand laced inside his.

“Oh are you Brandon’s friend?” Brook asked. “Elizabeth’s uncle?”

“Stepfather.” James said with a smile. “Brandon’s husband.”

Brook’s eyes grew wide as she slipped the statement into place in her head.

“Oh . . . oh!” She dropped Q’s hand and leapt back.

“I didn’t . . . I mean it’s . . . well, that’s . . . nice?”

“Yes, we think so.” Q said with a smile as he stepped over to stand next to his daughter.

James turned and spoke to Q.

“I discussed Lizzie’s self-defense training with the physical education instructor. He will arrange a more strenuous program for her.”

“Papa James!” Lizzie whined. “I don’t want to work harder.”

Q blinked at James.

“James, this is Miss Hunter, Lizzie’s composition teacher. She had some interesting stories that Lizzie has written. Like Sir James and the White Rat.” Q lifted his eyebrow.

James turned and gave Miss Hunter his most seductive smile. Both men watched as the small woman blushed deeper.

“Lizzie has a wonderful imagination, doesn’t she?” James said. His voice practically purring.

“Ah, yes . . . remarkable.” Brook looked quickly around. Another set of parents had stepped into the room. “If you’ll excuse me, I really need to speak to them about . . . their daughter.” Brook dodged around Q, avoiding any contact with the man only a few moments earlier she was leaning on.

Q and James watched the woman rush over to the other parents. She would occasionally glance at the two men, then blush.

“Com’on, it’s time to go home.” James said as he tugged gentle on Lizzie’s hand.

Q followed his husband and daughter out of the classroom then out of the school.

“I should be very angry at you Lizzie for plagiarizing James’ stories and calling them your own, but you did rescue me from the clutches of Miss Hunter.”

Lizzie leaned forward from the backseat of the car.

“Daddy I don’t have any idea what you are talking about.”

Q glanced over at James, then over into the backseat at his daughter.

“I love you, darling.” Q said softly. Then he turned towards James. “You on the other hand will please explain comment Sir James’ faithful elf.”

James’ fingers tightened on the steering wheel before he glanced in the rearview mirror at the child on the backseat.

“Thanks Lizzie.” He said sarcastically.

Lizzie just smiled back.


	8. Bump in the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James comes home from a mission to find his daughter is not alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just another short snippet of Daddy, Uncle James and Lizzie.

Bump in the Night

It had been a long mission. Bond had been away for almost four months. The mission had taken him to three continents and five countries. A search for a kidnapped physicist and his daughter. It ended in North Korea where he had to literally fight his way out with the man and the girl. He was tired and a bit sore. His nerves were still twitchy from being under constant strain of detection for the last three weeks. All he wanted now was to get home and sit in his bathtub with a large glass of scotch.

James Bond, the not so secret ‘secret’ agent had become a homebody. He was looking forward to curling up in bed with his husband and doing nothing more than sleeping for the next forty-eight hours. After that, he was going to spend the next forty-eight shagging the boffin. Unfortunately, the fates were against them. Q was stuck at MI6 aiding 004 through the streets of Cairo. The younger man would not be able to make it home until the mission was over and 004 was safely in route back to England.

James sighed and leaned back in the passenger seat of Alec Trevelyan’s car. His best friend was kind enough to drive the exhausted agent home to his house in Camden.

“Will Lizzie be there?” Alec asked as he turned down the street.

“Q said she has a new boyfriend but he thought she would be home tonight.” James eyes were closed but he knew exactly where they were. His innate sense of direction placed then only a few blocks from his house. “The alarm will be on the house. We have told her to keep it on when we are away.”

Alec hummed and turned the car down another street just before reaching the house. He parked out front of the three story Edwardian. Slowly Bond sat up and looked up at his home. He had never been so happy to see the house as he was at that moment. He had been away too long. A returning thought slipped forward in his mind. Maybe he had been a field agent too long. Maybe he should retire. He would be mandatorily retired in two years because of age, but M had not been pushing him to do so. Maybe it was time. He missed his family too much. He missed the shared moments between Q and Lizzie. She had grown up while he was away. He hated himself for that.

“Come on old man. Time for that drink.” Alec said slapping James on shoulder.

“You don’t know how true that statement is.” James said with a sigh.

The two men climbed out of the parked car and climbed the steps at the front of the house. Alec used his keys to open the door. The house was dark. The light normally left on in the entry way was turned off. They expected to hear the familiar electronic ping of alarm but instead heard nothing.

Instantly, the men were on alert. Alec and James glanced at each other as they reached for the guns secured in their holsters.

“Lizzie?” Alec whispered.

“If she was out the alarm would have been set for ‘away’. If she was here, it would have been set for ‘perimeter only’.” James explained in a whisper. “Check her room upstairs.”

Alec nodded and slowly started up the long staircase to the teenager’s room. James moved into the living room and library just off the hall. His sense were honed to anything being out of place in the house. He noticed the smell of basil and garlic. Maybe tomato. Lizzie had a pizza for dinner. His anxiety started to climb. It Lizzie had been here for dinner, where was she now?

James’ muscles twitched as he adjusted the grip on his Walther. He moved silently through the rooms towards the kitchen. That’s when he heard the groan. The heavy breathing of someone. He released the safety on the gun.

He heard another moan and a sound that reminded him of slurping. Like a pet licking itself. James paused for a moment. They had two cats but that wasn’t the cats he heard. He moved quicker towards the sound. The panting and soft groans. The den just off the kitchen was dark, but the moonlight was coming through the tall windows that led to the backyard.

There was a mound of limbs and bodies on the couch. Flashes of pale skin in the moonlight that moved and then disappeared from sight. A quick intake of breath, then a rough deep voice.

“Oh, Lizzie, you’re driving me crazy. Let me . . .”

“IF YOU FINISH THAT SENTENCE WITH ‘FUCK YOU’ I WILL SHOOT!” Bond growled.

There was a sudden gasp and the two bodies on the couch flung apart from each other. James reached over and flicked on the light switch. The room was flooded with the soft light from the lamps around the room.

Lizzie quickly stood up as the young man who had been laying on top of her fell off the couch and landed on the floor. James didn’t say anything. He just glared at his stepdaughter who was just as accomplished at staring daggers back at him.

“Who are you?” The boy asked and he slowly climbed to his feet. He saw the gun in James’ hand and panicked. “Look, we weren’t doing . . . who are you!?”

Just as the boy finished stammering, Alec crashed into the room too. His gun out and pointed at the young man.

“SHITE! LOOK, MISTER I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT, BUT SHE’S RICH! TAKE THE GIRL! I WON’T STOP YOU! JUST DON’T SHOOT ME!”

James just wanted to shoot the little bastard all the more. He glanced over at his daughter and saw her face shift from embarrass into red anger. James couldn’t help himself. He smirked.

“WHAT?!” Lizzie shouted. “You little prick! Take the girl?! I should kick you in the balls you weak pathetic worm!”

“What did I miss?” Alec asked leaning towards Bond.

“HEY, TAKE WHAT EVER YOU WANT! I WON’T SAY A THING! HER FATHERS ARE LOADED, TRUST ME!”

Lizzie slapped the kid hard across the face. “You bastard!”

The kid raised his fist as if to hit her, but James fired his gun. Missing the boy’s head and smashing the lamp on the table next to him. The kid ducked down to the floor, trying to hide. He started to reach for Lizzie to pull her down to him, but she slapped is hands away from her.

The young man started sputtering. “They’ve got guns! They’re going to kill us!”

“No, I’m going to kill you!” Lizzie said coldly. “And you!” She turned on James. “Why are you sneaking around? You could have announced yourself instead of charging in here like some super hero!”

“Me? You’re the one who forgot to set the alarm and is in here swapping DNA with a pimple faced . . . what did you call him . . . worm?”

“James!” Lizzie shouted.

“We have asked you to call me Papa.” James said coolly.

“He’s your father?!” The boy asked Lizzie looking up at her from the floor.

“Yes.” She growled at the young man. “Now get out before I let him shoot you.”

The young man’s mouth fell open. Lizzie turned back and glared at her stepfather. Alec rolled his eyes. He stepped over and grabbed the young man by the neck. Pulling him to his feet, Alec started to drag the young man towards the door.

“Come along, idiot.” Alec said as he pushed the kid in front of him. He paused next to James. “Do you want them to find the body quickly?”

James gave Alec a sideways glance as he heard the boy whimper.

“Get him out of here before he pisses himself.”

James and Lizzie turned back and glared at each other. Lizzie waited till she heard the front door slammed shut.

“Don’t you dare start with me, James.”

“I’m not the one who just got caught making out on the couch.”

“Oh come one, do you know how many times I’ve caught you and Dad groping each other?”

“Lizzie that is different. We aren’t fifteen year olds and we are not sneaking around. How old was he?”

“Cameron is eighteen.”

“Eighteen! Lizzie?!”

She glared at him a minute more, then collapsed down on the couch. “Okay, not my best idea.”

“That is an understatement. What would have happened if Brandon had walked in on the two of you?” James asked referring to Q.

“Well, there wouldn’t have been any guns involved. Can you imagine what he is going to tell his parents . . . the school? Oh my God, our friends?!!”

Lizzie buried her face in her hands.

“Well, look on the bright side. Maybe Alec was serious about no one finding the body.”

Lizzie glanced up at her step-father.

“Is it too late to call him and ask him?” She asked.

James smiled, glad that his step-daughter had his sense of humor.

“I think it is more important to figure out what we are going to tell Brandon?” James said.

“Why tell him anything?” Lizzie looked up hopefully at James.

“Lizzie, really, we have to tell him something.”

Lizzie leaned back into the couch and sighed. Her dark hair fell across her shoulder and her green eyes closed.

“He will blow the whole thing out of proportion. Then I’ll have to sit through the lecture on what ‘good girls’ are supposed to do.”

“Well, given what I just walked into, maybe you should listen this time.” James offered.

“Do you ever listen?” she countered.

James huffed out an agreement, and leaned back next to his step-daughter. The two sat very quiet for several minutes till they heard the front door open. James and Lizzie glanced at each other as they listened to Q call out to them.

“Oh, there you are.” He said as he stepped into the room.

“Hi, Dad. There’s pizza in the frig for you if you’re hungry.” Lizzie said as innocently as you please.

“Great, I’m starving. Q came and leaned over to kiss James. Then he glanced at the broken lamp on the table. He wrinkled his brow as he stared at it.

“Oh, sorry, that was my fault.” Lizzie started to say.

“No, it really was mine. I scared her when I came in and it got . . . knocked. Sorry, love.”

Lizzie glanced over at James and smiled.

“It’s okay. I never liked that lamp anyway. I’ve always thought about shooting it.” Q said as he turned to go to the kitchen and retrieve the pizza.

Lizzie reached over and gave James a hug and a kiss.

“I’m glad your home Papa.”

“I am too, Lizzie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure when I will update again. Just as ideas come to me.


	9. The Recruit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q and Bond learn their daughter is up to something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just another short chapter in the continuing story of James Bond, Q and their daughter, Lizzie.

The Recruit

James looked over the file again. He really didn’t need to, he had read through it three times now and practically knew the information by heart. He recognized the real facts and knew which ones had been falsified. The blunt throb of pain began to grow in his forehead as his headache worsened. He wish he could avoid the next confrontation but knew there was no possibility.

He looked up when he heard the knock on the door and sighed. He reached for his tumbler of scotch as he called out.

“Come in.”

The door opened and James finished the alcohol in the glass.

“Isn’t it a little early for that?” The voice that James knew better than his own, asked.

“It may be too late.” James looked up into his husband’s face. Q’s smile slipped from his face as he studied James expression.

“Something’s happened. What is it? Which agent?” Q asked not stepping further into the room.

“Close the door. We need to talk.” James said closing the file on his desk and leaning away from it.

Q quickly closed the door and sat down in the chair opposite James.

“Well, 004 checked in today and is fine. 008 and 009 are still traveling to their destinations and 001 is returning from China. I don’t know who could be in trouble.”

James took a moment to look at the face he had loved for twenty years now. Q still had his impish expression but wrinkles now lined the hazel green eyes. Several strands of silver white grey hair streaked through the dark curls. There was a small scar on Q’s neck from an unfortunate accident in R and D once, marring the white skin. But still the same, Q was the same beautiful man he had fallen in love with two decades before. The man he had wanted to share his life with.

“James?” Q raised an eyebrow at James’ silence.

“Alec was reviewing the new recruits for MI6 the other day. Not he normal job, but he wanted to see what kind of crop we were going to be getting in. He was down at the firing range watching the various recruits shoot when the officer in charge wanted to introduce the head of training to the top marksman of the incoming class of recruits.” James paused as Q sat silently listening. “Alec agreed and was introduced to Elizabeth Markham.”

“Elizabeth Markham?” Q asked. The name wasn’t familiar other than Markham had been his ex-wife’s name.

“It was Lizzie.” James said quietly.

Q leaned back in his chair and sighed relaxed. “Oh, God, James. The way you going on I thought it was something horrible. Of course Lizzie is an expert marksmen. We’ve taught her how to shoot since she was sixteen. Oh wait a moment . . .” Q sat up. “You said a recruit? That’s wonderful. She would be an excellent addition to Q Branch. By why did she use Katherine’s name instead of Parks?”

“She doesn’t want to join Q Branch, Brandon.” James said quietly.

“Of course she does. She sailed through her post grad work and her thesis passed peer review the first time. She’s fluent in five languages. You’re confused. She wants to work with Q Branch.” Q ignored the concerned expression of James’ face.  

“She falsified her paperwork so she could sneak into the field agent program.”

Q’s smile slipped from his face. “Field agent? But she’s not . . .”

“Not what? Military trained. Alec checked as soon as he met her. She passed the physical requirements already. Her hand to hand combat techniques placed her first in the class.”

“Why did you and Alec teach her how to fight?” Q hissed.

“Her marksmanship score was higher than mine.”

“Well, I did polish up her technique. You and Alec just like to point and shoot.”

“Q, the only way we can stop her from being a field agent is to reveal she lied in her initial interviews. Even through the lie detector portion.”

“She beat the machine? But she could be arrested for that.” Q leaned forward in his chair.

“Eventually, it will come out who she is. I mean she can’t hide it from Tanner or Moneypenny, or the other Double ‘0’ agents. But her instructor now doesn’t know who she is nor do the other recruits.”

“Have you spoken to Tanner about this? I mean he is M now, he should know that she wants to be an agent.”

“I haven’t mentioned it to him. I just can’t imagine he would turn her down. She’s grown up around MI6. She probably knows more about the workings of this organization than most of the people who work here.”

Q thought for a moment then sighed. “Would be horrible if she became an agent? I mean she’s always adored you and thought you were the most wonderful person in the world. She is just emulating you.”

James reached to the bottle of scotch on his desk and poured another drink. “I was never a good example for her. I love her and can’t imagine not having her . . . having both of you in my life, but maybe it would have been better if I wasn’t around for her to know and want to be like.”

“How can you say that, James? We are a family. We belong together.” Q softened his voice.

“It would have been better for her.”

“No it wouldn’t. So what if she wants to a field agent? It’s not the end of the world. She would make a great agent. With you and Alec teaching her, she would be unstoppable.”

James took a long sip of the scotch.

“And what will you do when we have to send her out on a honeypot mission.” James stared Q straight in the eye. He watched as his husband blanched and his eyes grew large in disbelief.

“NEVER! We would never do that! I won’t allow it!” Q almost shouted at James.

“Exactly. How do you expect me to pick mission for her knowing there was a possibility she could be injured or . . . worse.”

“This is 007’s fault.” Q hissed. James glanced up for a moment then realized Q was speaking about someone else.

“Willoughby? James Willoughby, the new 007?”

“He’s been 007 for two years now, James. He must have been encouraging her to join.”

“I think she may have come to this decision on her own. But how do we stop her?”

“I’ll just tell her no. She will not be allowed to join MI6.”

“Brandon, my love, she is an adult. You can’t order her around like she is a child. And who is to say if she can’t get into MI6 she won’t try the CIA or the French.” James offered.

“Oh, God, no! She wouldn’t go the Americans?” Q felt his control over his world slipping away from him. “James, I can’t let her do this.” Q pleaded. “She’s too young.”

“She’s the average age of the other recruits. She is also one of the most trained and best prepared of the group. Short of revealing she lied on her application, I don’t know how to stop her. The fact that she created a cover story that passed through vetting will probably be in her favor to remain in the program. MI5 will have egg on their faces for letting her through as well as us, but I don’t know how to keep her from becoming a field agent.”

Q leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. James recognized Q’s ‘thinking’ pose. He remained silent while Q worked at the problem from several different directions.

“M!” Q’s eyes snapped open. “Tanner watch Lizzie grow up. He’s not going to want her in harm’s way. He will insist on her dropping out of the program. He’ll ban her.”

James mulled the option over in his head. Bill Tanner might do that or he might realize that Lizzie would make the perfect agent. Someone who grew up in a world of secrets since she was a young child and knew how important it was to remain in the shadows even when you were safe at home.

There was a knock on the door and the two men turned to see the door open before James gave a response. Elizabeth Parks stepped into her step-father’s office. She was wearing the grey workout clothing the new recruits were issued. Her dark curls were pulled back into a clip and off her round face. Her hazel green eyes flashed between to the two men sitting in front of her.

“So Uncle Alec already told you.” She didn’t give them a greeting. Her voice was sharp with an edge of anger to it.

“Lizzie, come in and let’s discuss this.” James said as he stood.

His step daughter entered the room shutting the door a little harder than was necessary. Q jumped at the sound and a wave of exasperation moved over him.

“I will not be told what to do.” Lizzie started immediately.

“I think you are forgetting who you are talking to young lady.” Q said as he glared at his daughter.

“My fathers. I know exactly who I am talking too.”

“No.” James said his voice sharp and deep. “The head of the Technical Support Department and the Chief of Staff. Insubordination to a superior officer will not be tolerated, recruit.”

Lizzie paused in mid-stride as she stormed forward. James’ voice and attitude were cold and resolute. The warm and charming step-father was gone and the Chief of Staff and former Double ‘O’ agent stood in front of the young woman.

“Sit down.” James barked.

Lizzie quickly took her seat but kept her expression determined.

“It is obvious that you have breached the trust of MI6 by applying under falsified information. An act that is punishable by imprisonment.”

Lizzie narrowed her eyes and let a small curve come to her lips. She knew James would never actual follow through with the threat of having her arrested. If this was his starting point then she knew he had very little to stop her joining the spy agency.

“It is also evident that you did so knowing you were purposefully misleading your supervisors.” James continued.

“I thought misleading people was the specialty of spies.”

“To be a successful spy you must be have the support of others you leave in England. If you start your relationship with them by lying, no one will trust no one.” James nodded towards Q. “You should look at the relationship I had with your father before we even started dating. From the very start, we trusted each other to do the very best job we could.”

Q tried to keep his eyes from rolling. There were several moments in those first few years he had whispered how much he hated James Bond. Lizzie didn’t need to know about those years.

“When it is learned that you have made fools of everyone, it will be harder for you to operate as a spy. Or to even work here at MI6. You need to drop out now, before they learn what you have done.” Q added.

“But I don’t want to drop out. I want to work here. I want to work with the Double ‘O’s like you did Dad.” Lizzie stated simply.

“Field agents do not work with Double ‘O’s. And if you really want to work with the elite group, it would be faster and more efficient to move over to Q Branch.” James said calmly.

“Yes it would be faster and more efficient . . .” Lizzie acted like she was considering the idea. “Or, I could just marry one.”

Q felt his stomach hit the floor. James thought he had been slapped.

“What?” Q snapped.

“I could marry a Double ‘O’ and not have to be an agent.” Lizzie said as she sat back in her chair.

“No!” Q said without thinking. “I won’t let you. You can’t imagine what horrible people they are!”

James cleared his throat and glared at his husband. Q realized what he said and shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, in general, you agents are. You do things that normal people would refuse to do.” Q accused.

“We are generally forced to do those things . . . dear.” James didn’t even try to keep the animosity out of his voice.

Lizzie smiled. The two had played into her hand. “It is simple. I will quit the field agent program and move over to Q Branch and you will happily welcome James Willoughby into our family as your new son-in-law.”

“And if we don’t?” James’ question sound more like a threat than an inquiry.

“I will remain in the program. So far I am at the top of my class. I am sure to make it into the agent training program and become a field agent in the next few months. Then after that, I’m sure I will be stationed some place miserable with the high probability of injury or death. I might even be kidnapped.” Lizzie smiled broadly.

“Or we could report that you falsified your application.” Q offered.

“Yes you could, but then it would show up the inadequacies of the screening process. And everyone who had been vetted by it in the last twenty years will be subject to investigation and inquiry into their personal lives. Including the head of Q Branch.”

“Lizzie, this is not funny. Stop it.” Q snapped again at his daughter.

“Then let me marry James and live happily ever after.”

“Did 007 put you up to this?” James asked finally calling the agent by the correct code name.

“James doesn’t even know I enlisted. He is in Caracas right now. Will be for another two months. And if you threaten him, I’ll do something worse.” She threatened.

James and Q couldn’t think what it could be. They never thought their daughter would blackmail them into letting her marry a secret agent in the first place.

“Lizzie, why are you doing this?” Q asked trying to reason with his daughter. “It’s a horrible life being married to a Double ‘O’.”

“You seemed to have enjoyed it.” She stared at her father. “I grew up in a house with a Double ‘O’. I was there when James came home from his missions bloody and injured. I helped you take care of him, Dad. I know what I’m in for.”

“There are other aspects of being a Double ‘O’ you don’t know about.” Q said softly. “Things we kept from you.”

“You mean the missions where he will have to sleep with other women . . . and men? I already know about them too. James told me before we became . . . intimate. He warned me that he might accidently expose me to disease.” Lizzie took on a more serious tone. Bond felt an overpowering urge to strangle a certain young agent. Q just looked shocked.

“He told you?”

“Yes, he tells everything he can tell me. I realize there is a lot of things he can’t but he doesn’t lie to me. I know he’s had to kill people. I know he is good with a knife. I’ve seen the scars from the time he was tortured with car battery.” Lizzie tried to blink a tear back.

“And you want to marry him anyway?”

“How many times did you have to listen to James have sex before the two of you married, Dad? How many woman did he bed after you were married? If given the chance would tell him no if he asked to marry you again. Would you have given back any of the days the two of you have been together? Even the ones when you didn’t know if he was alive or dead?”

Bond watched as Q and his step-daughter stared at each other. Their physical features so very similar. The dark curls and the pale skin. The round faces and the green eyes. Lizzie reminded James of how Q looked that first time he met the young man. The day at the National Gallery so many years ago. James knew his life changed in that moment but it wasn’t until several years later when he stood in Q’s office staring down into the eyes of a six year did his world finally turn right side up.

“No . . . no I wouldn’t.” Q said softly. “But Lizzie, there will be so much pain and tears. Do you really want it? Is he really who you love most in the world?”

Lizzie let her eyes shift to James then back to her father. “Yes Dad, he is. I know there will be hard times but I also know how wonderful the good times will be too. You showed me. The two of you did. I guess I just like you, Dad. We have a thing for spies names James.”

She stood up and walked over to her father who was also standing. The two hugged as Q whispered over and over again that he loved his daughter.

“You planned this whole charade, didn’t you?” James said as he stood and walked around his desk.

Lizzie turned to him while her father still held her. “If I had just come to tell you that James and I wanted to marry you would have done something to stop it. Sent him on a mission somewhere. Prevented him from returning to me. I needed leverage.”

James kissed her forehead and hugged her too. Then he leaned over and kissed Q.

“God help James Willoughby if he marries you, Lizzie.” James said calmly. “It’s a shame though.”

“What is?” Q asked cocking his head to look at his husband.

“She would have made one hell of an agent. She smart, cunning and ruthless.”

“James, you’re speaking of my little girl you know? My daughter.”

“Our daughter, Q. Ours.”


	10. Babysitting Detail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lizzie asked Alec some interesting questions while babysitting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter Lizzie is six years old and Q and James are not dating yet. It is just after James and MI6 Critical Response Team crashed into Q's flat thinking the young Quartermaster was being attacked. 
> 
> There is mention of Christian theology in this chapter.

Q opened the door of his flat and stepped inside. It had been a long week and the young man was exhausted. His daughter had been living with him for just a few weeks and turned the young father’s life upside down.

Q thought he had arranged a good nanny for his daughter, but that had all fallen through when Bond and MI6 Critical Response Team burst into the flat with their guns. The poor woman had to be sedated and the hiring agency for nannies was refusing Q’s phone calls. Now, he was going through a list a selected members of MI6 who could babysit his precocious six year old. It was a temporary arrangement but until Q could find a babysitter who possessed intelligence, fortitude, compassion, and combat training in small arms and hand to hand, it was going to have to do.

It was Alec Trevelyan’s turn to babysit Lizzie. Q was a bit concerned when the Russian eagerly accepted the mission. He even didn’t asked for his normal amount of explosives this time. Q came into his small flat and saw Alec and Lizzie sitting on the floor in front of the couch, having a ‘tea party’ on the low table.

It was completely surreal to see the lethal Russian seating cross-legged with Lizzie on one side of him and the teddy bear Bond had brought her from Kiev sitting on the other side of him. He was holding a small cup carefully between his thumb and first two fingers of his right hand, mimicking drinking hot tea.

“Delicious, kotehok.” He smiled and clinked his cup next to hers.

Lizzie laughed at the pet name. Q couldn’t help himself but smile at the two of them. His young daughter saw him and jumped to her feet.

“DADDY!” She rushed around the coffee table and into Q’s arms.

Q gave his daughter a hug and nuzzled her neck.

“Have you been a good girl?” He asked, not doubting that Alec would spoil her.

“Always.” Lizzie wrapped her arms around her father’s neck and gave him a small kiss. “Can Uncle Alec stay for dinner?”

“I’m sure Uncle?” Q glanced over at Alec. The blonde nodded his head. “Uncle Alec probably has a date waiting for him somewhere.”

“No, I’m completely free for the evening, Q. Unless, you want to be greedy and not share your adorable daughter with me any longer.”

Q let Lizzie’s wiggling body slip down out of grasp. She ran over and jumped into Alec’s lap. Lizzie threw her arms around Alec neck this time and hugged him.

“We can have dinner together and you can tell me a bedtime story. Uncle James tells the best ones. They are about Sir Alec and Sir James, who are knights fighting dragons!”

Alec glanced up at Q. “Dragons?” He raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Or you could read her ‘Ann of Green Gables’.” Q said as he went into the small kitchen.

Q clicked on the kettle and started to fix himself a fresh cup of tea. He opened the drawer where he kept his takeaway menus and started seeing what sounded good for dinner tonight. The kettle shut off and he poured the hot water over his tea infuser. He let it steep as he picked out three choices. After just a few minutes he removed the infuser and added his honey. He picked up his choices and his mug of tea and returned to his daughter and Alec.

Lizzie was still sitting in Alec’s lap. She was telling the blonde one of the stories that James had told her. About Sir Alec and Sir James swimming through the muddy waters of the evil kingdom to blow up the tanker that the witch hid her slimy sludge in. Alec smiled as he remember the mission where the two of them had blown up the heroin manufacturing plant that was a camouflage as a fuel depot.

Q dropped the menus on the table. He sat down in a chair and leaned back, taking a long drink of his tea, then sighing.

“What’s that?” Lizzie asked as she reached up and tugged on the silver chain around Alec’s neck.

A small oblong silver disk dangled from the chain. Lizzie tapped the disk with her tiny fingers and watched as it spin in circle. The woman’s face on the metal caught the light as it turned.

“Who is she?” Lizzie asked as Alec carefully pulled the chain from Lizzie’s hand.

“My motb gave that to me. My mother . . . when I was younger than you. It is the Virgin Mary. She gave it to me to keep me protected. My parents were Russian Orthodox.” Alec’s voice took on a softer tone. Almost sad.

“Does it work?”

“I’m here aren’t I?” Alec carefully slipped it back under the neckline of his jumper. But Lizzie pulled on the chain again and pulled the small metal Madonna out.

“Why is she called the Virgin Mary?” Lizzie asked.

“That’s her name. She was Jesus Christ’s mom.” Alec said.

“Her first name was virgin?” Lizzie pressed.

Q and Alec glanced at each other. Alec hesitated. He wasn’t sure how in-depth the conversation should go.

“No, sweetheart.” Q interrupted the two. “Her name was Mary. They just called her virgin.”

Lizzie dragged her little finger over the ridges of the metal face. “What’s a virgin?”

Alec actually paled. Q blushed.

“A virgin is a woman who doesn’t have any children.” Alec started.

“But you said she was a mom . . .” Lizzie looked up quizzically into Alec’s face.

“Ah . . . yes . . . you see . . .”

Q wondered for a moment how Alec had with stood so many interrogations when a six year old girl left tongue tied.

“Kitten, a virgin is someone who has never been married.” Q prided himself on coming up with a reasonable answer that didn’t hide the truth but also didn’t give any graphic descriptions.

“Oh, so a mommy or a daddy could be a virgin if they haven’t been married?” Lizzie asked.

“Yes,” Q hoped that was the end of the conversation.

Lizzie shifted in Alec’s lap as the Russian pulled the menus to himself and started looking through them.

“So you’re not a virgin, Daddy?”

Q swallowed his tea quickly to prevent from spiting it out. He coughed as he fought the burn down his throat. Q blinked his eyes as tears threatened the corners.

“No, darling. I was married to your mother and I’m not a virgin.” Q’s voice was raspy.

Q glanced at Alec and saw the hint of smile playing at the corners of the man’s mouth. Q glared at the man and gave him a silent warning. Q slowly took another sip of tea, holding it in his mouth before he swallowed it.

“But Uncle James is a virgin.”

The tea was spit out, down the front of Q’s shirt and tie. The hot liquid burned through Q’s trousers and into his thigh.

“Bollock!” Q hissed as he stood.

“DADDY!” Lizzie reprimanded her father’s swearing.

Alec laughed softly as he wrapped a protective arm around the young girl. He leaned over and kissed Lizzie’s temple.

“No, Kotehok, James was married once. A long time ago, but it didn’t last long. Tracy died shortly after she married James. It makes him very sad to talk about it, so we don’t ever mention it. Okay?”

“Okay.” Lizzie said sounding sad now too. “Uncle Alec, are you a virgin?”

Q was relieved he hadn’t taken another drink of tea. He smirked at Alec who seemed to be blushing slightly. Then Alec leaned over and gave Lizzie a second kiss to her forehead.

“You know, it is very rude to ask such question. My motb would be very disappointed for such a lovely little girl like you to ask things that were so private.”

Suddenly, Lizzie looked very worried and upset. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get you mad.”

“No one is angry, Lizzie dear. But this not an appropriate subject for dinner tonight. Instead you can tell me about what you and Uncle Alec did today.”

Q reached down and picked up one menu and showed it to Alec. The blonde nodded his head and Q returned to the kitchen to make the order. Alec was proud of the fact he had ended all the questions and changed the subject.

“But Daddy, there is a bottle in the kitchen that says Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Does olive oil get married too?”

Alec burst out laughing while Q groaned. He was going to have to have a private conversation with Lizzie sooner than he wanted too.

Q was amazed that Alec stayed for dinner then help tuck Lizzie into bed for the night. He even told her another story about Sir Alec and Japanese mermaids. Lizzie was sound asleep before he even got the point where he blew up the ship carrying missile parts to North Korea.

As Alec hesitated before leaving for the evening, he turned to Q.

“Don’t get me wrong Q . . . I think Lizzie is great kid and all, but don’t call me back for babysitting duty until she is over sixteen.”

“I was thinking twenty.” Q smiled and opened the front door of the flat.

“Thanks.”

“And you and your charm are going to be paying my cleaning bill for removing tea stains from my clothing.”

Alec smiled as he left and Q locked up for the night.

Yes, Q was really going to have to find a new nanny quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kotehot translate to kitten


End file.
